Time controlled valve



March 12, 1935. A' GAUGER 1,993,926

TIME CONTROLLED VALVE Filed Jan. 6, 1930 drrmu Patented Mar. 12, 1935 ir 1,993,926

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TIME CONTROLLED VALVE Frank A. Gauger,Milwaukee, Wis., asslgnor to Milwaukee Gas Specialty Company, acorporation of Wisconsin Application January 6, 1930, Serial No. 418,7333 Claims. (Cl. 161-9) This invention relates to time controlled valvenism, and in which the casing may be formed of mechanism. sheet metalhaving integral bottom, front, and It is frequently desirable to providea'time 0011- back walls, and a readily removable sheet metal trolledvalve, for instance, one for turning of! cover interlocking with thebody portion of the 5 fuel, such as gas, supplied the burner of anincasing.

cinerator, water heater, or other device, which Further objects are toprovide a clock conmay be set to out 01? further supply of fuel aftertrolled valve in which the clock mechanism may a predetermined time. bereadily removed without disturbing the valve Various attempts have beenmade to supply or associated parts, and which may be easily adthis typof d u these tt mpts av not justed or inspected or replaced as occasionde- 10 proven wh'olly satisfactory, for they usually remands.

sulted in a device which would gradually cut off Further objects are toprovide a clock conthe fuel as the clock mechanism approached a trolledvalve mechanism which is of very simple predetermined point in itsoperation, or which construction, which may be easily produced,

l5 required a trigger mechanism which had to be which is cheap, andwhich is free from fragile l5 cooked and set in addition to setting theclock or delicate parts. mechanism. In addition to these defects, the Anembodiment of the invention is shown in prior devices usually hadrelatively delicately adthe accompanying drawing, in which: justed,easily deranged parts which, not infre- Figure 1 is a front elevation ofthe device. quently, got out of order. Figure 2 is a sectional view onthe line 2--2 of 20 This invention is designed to overcome the Figure 1.above noted defects, and objects of this invention Figure 3 is asectional view on the line 3-3 of are to provide a time controlled valvein which Figure 2. the valve is opened by the mere act of setting theFigure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of clock mechanism, inwhich the valve is automati- Figure 3. 25 cally closed by the clockmechanism, and in Figure '5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of whicha quick motion is imparted to the valve Figure 4. during closing by theinherent nature of the de- The device comprises a valve 1, which may bevice and without the necessity of additional a fuel valve, which isrigidly attached to the botmechanism which has to be separately set ortom 2 of a casing in any suitable manner, for 30 cocked. example, bymeans of the screws 3, as shown in Further objects of this invention areto provide Figure 3. This casing is provided with front and a timecontrolled valve which has a single in rear walls 4, which are integralwith the bottom strumentality, which may be manually operated 2. Theconstruction is readily followed by to both open the valve and set orwind the clock stamping the casing out of sheet metal and sub- 35mechanism, and which may be manually resequently folding the integralside portions 4'upversely operated, independently of the clock wardly.The casing is completed by means of mechanism, to close the valve in theevent that the cover 5, which is also stamped from sheet the operatordid not wish to wait until the clock metal and curved to fit the outlineof the front I mechanism had operated to close the valve. and rear walls4, as shown in the drawing. Pref- 40 Further objects are to provide aclock conerably the cover 5 is provided with relatively nar-'- trolledvalve which may be set to operate after row i tu ed flanges which fiOver the edges any predetermined length of time, and which is of thefront and rear walls 4, to thereby hold so constructed thattheescapement mechanism these walls in position and to insure an interofthe clock will be started, or given an additional locking of the coverwith these walls. The cover 45 starting impulse, by the mere act ofsetting the is very easily attached by means of crew 7. clock mechanism.which are threaded into lugs 8 struck upwardly Further objects are toprovide a clock confrom t bottom 2 0f the a 88 h W n trolled valve whichdoes not require much head ure 3- A 01001! mechanism, indicated room, asits overall dimensions are small, which erally by the referencecharacter 9, isremovably 50 may, therefore, be screwed intoplace uponthe held in place by means of screws 10," whichare fuel supply pipe withthe utmost facility even in threaded into the posts or spacing members111, constricted spaces, which is so made that a simcarried by the clockmechanism, as indicated in ple type of casing may be employed as aunitary Figures 3 and 4. Preferably these screws extend part of thedevice for housing the clock mechainwardly through the front wall 4 ofthe casing 6.

and are readily accessible, so that the clock mechanism may be removedas a whole by merely removing the screws 10.

The clock mechanism is provided with a spring shaft or arbor 12, whichcarries at its forward end a radially projecting arm 13, as shown inFigures 2 and 3. A winding shaft 14 is arranged in axial alignment butout of contact with the spring shaft or drive shaft 12 of the mechanism.This winding shaft 14 is journalled within bearings carried by the frontwall 4 of the casing, and is provided with a thumb piece or arms 15, sothat it may be rotated manually. The winding shaft or manually operableshaft 14 is provided adjacent its inner end with a cam disc 16, whichhas a rearwardly projecting tongue 17, see Figures 2 and 3. This tongue1'7 is adapted to engage the flat face of the arm 13 when the windingshaft is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 3. Whenthe winding shaft is turned in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure3, it is obvious that the spring shaft or driving shaft 12 is similarlyrotated and the clock mechanism is wound to the desired extent,depending upon the angle to which the shaft 14 is turned.

A pointer 18 is carried by the shaft 14 and located on the front side ofthe front wall 4 of the casing and cooperates with a graduated dial 19,carried by such front wall, to indicate the length of time the clockmechanism will run before it cuts off the fuel supply in a mannerhereinafter described. The dial 19 is preferably provided with a pair ofstops 20, see Figure 1, which are engaged by the pointer 18 at the twoextreme limits of its motion.

The clock mechanism may be of any suitable or approved type, and isprovided with escapement mechanism in the usual manner, such escapementmechanism including a balance wheel 21 carried by the balance wheelshaft 22, as shown in Figures 2 and 4. This balance wheel shaft 22 isprovided with a small pinion 23 for a purpose which will hereinafterappear as the description proceeds.

The valve casing 1 is provided with inlet and outlet portions 24 and 25,see Figure 2, and with a by-pass or pilot light portion 26, see Figures1 and 3. The pilot light is not shown, but it is preferable to providean auxiliary hand control stop cock therefor in the usual manner.

The valve proper is indicated at 2'7 in Figures 2 and 3, and is providedwith an upwardly extending stem or rod 28, whose upper end is screwthreaded into a cam follower or plunger 29, see Figure 3; This plunger29 is recessed and provides a seat for a small helical spring 30 looselysurrounding the valve stem 28. The lower end of the spring bears againsta soft packing 31, which in turn contacts with a' interiorly locatedguiding flange 32. The flange 32 is preferably formed integral with arigidly positioned tube or hollow guiding stem 33 carried by the valvecasing 1, as shown most clearly in Figure 3.

It is to be noted from Figure 3 that the interiorly located guiding webor partition 32 is located at a considerable distance above the valve2'7. Also it is to be noted that the valve stem 28 has a loose fit withthis web 32, and that the plunger 29 has a relatively loose fit withinthe tube 33. This allows a slight play for the valve 27 and insuresaccurate setting of such valve.

A sleeve 34 loosely surrounds the tube 33 and bears against the flangedupper end of the plunger 29. The lower end of this sleeve 34 is providedwith a flange 35, which is engaged by the forked wheel shaft 22.

arms of a rocking plate 36, see Figures 3 and 4. This rocking plate isprovided with a pair of lips 37, see Figure 4, and these lips arewrapped around one of the spacing pillows 11 and thus provide a pivotalsupport for the rocking plate. A leaf spring 38, see Figure 3, isprovided for urging the rocking plate upwardly into a position tendingto lift the sleeve 34.

Means are provided for starting the clock mechanism whenever the sleeve34 moves downwardly. This means is shown in Figures 4 and and comprisesa small spring finger 39 secured to an arm of the rocking plate 36, asshown in Figure 4, and projecting into the line of the teeth of thesmall pinion 23 carried by the balance Clearly when the sleeve 34 movesdownwardly, the spring finger 39 will engage the teeth of the pinion 23and pass therefrom during its downward travel, thereby giving thebalance wheel shaft 22 a sudden twist and insuring the starting of theescapement. It is clear that in the uppermost position of the plate 36the spring finger 39 or starting finger could either interlock with theteeth of the pinion 23 and arrest further motion of the clock mechanism,or it could pass upwardly into its upper position, above that shown infull lines in Figure 5, and thus allow the clock mechanism to completelyrun down.

Referring again to the cam 16, particularly as shown in Figure 3, itwill be seen that this cam is provided with a flat lower face or cut-offface 16 and with a sharply rounded portion 16". The purpose of thisconstruction will immediately be appreciated when the operation of theapparatus is considered, as will be outlined below.

When it is desired to turn on the-fuel, the winding shaft 14 is given apart turn by means of the thumb piece 15, so that the pointer 18indicates the correct length of time or graduation upon the dial 19, seeFigure 1. The clockwise rotation of the shaft 14 winds the clockmechanism due to the engagement of the tongue 1'! of the cam with thearm 13 of the driving shaft or spring shaft 12 of the clock mechanism.The mechanism is thus wound by the mere setting of the device. Inaddition to this, the sharply rounded corner 16" of the cam suddenlydepresses the valve 27 and the loosely mounted sleeve 34. This motion ofthe parts, therefore, opens the valve and, in addition, imparts arocking motion to the plate 36, which, in turn, gives a sudden twist tothe escapement mechanism and insures the starting of the escapementmechanism.

The clock mechanism, therefore, is set into operation and slowly rotatesthe cam 16 in a counter-clockwise direction. After the clock mechanismhas operated for a predetermined length of time for which the device isset, the sharply rounded portion 16" of the cam begins to slide over thetop of the plunger or cam follower 29. The upward pressure of the spring30, which is also assisted by the spring 38, causes the cam 16 toquickly snap into its final position, as shown in Figure 3, and thussecures a quick and complete cut-off of the fuel. There is no gradualcut-off permitted by the mechanism described, but instead the fuel iseither turned completely on or completely off.

If the operator should wish to cut the gas off without waiting for theclock mechanism to operate the valve, all that is necessary is that hegrasp the thumb piece 15 and turn the pointer 18 to its off position.This rotates the cam 16 into its cut-ofi position, as shown in Figure 3,

and thus cuts off the fuel supply. It is to be --note'd-that the windingshaft 14 canbe turned in a. counter-clockwise direction, as the tongue17 is free to move away from the arm 13 when the cam is so rotated.

Thus the operator is given the utmost freedom to either set the deviceand wait for its automatic cut-off after the requisite length of time,or if occasion demands, he may instantly cut off the device by merelyturning the pointer back to its ofl position. He is not required to waitfor the clock mechanism to complete its action.

In addition to this, the operator is not required to manipulate anyvalves whatsoever when he turns on the fuel. He merely rotates thewinding shaft 14 and this automatically turns on the fuel and sets themechanism. As stated above, he may also cut off the fuel manually bymerely reversing the winding shaft 14.

It will be seen also that the device is extremely simple in itsconstruction, and that the casing, for instance, is formed of anintegral bottom and front and.rear walls and a simple one-piece cover.Further, it will be seen that the clock mechanism can be bodily liftedfrom the casing in a very simple and easy manner after the holdingscrews therefor have been removed from the front of the casing. Thusrepair, inspection, or adjustment is effected with the utmost ease.

It will be seen further that the total overall dimensions of theapparatus are extremely small, as is obvious from an inspection ofFigure 1, and, consequently, hardly any head room" or clearance isrequired for the device while it is being screwed into place upon thesupply pipe.

Further than this, no skill is required of the operator, as there isonly one instrumentality,

namely, the winding shaft, to operate in either setting the device ormanually cutting off the fuel.

, The device in actual trials has been found to work with the utmostcertainty and to provide the maximum freedom for the operator. Further,the quick cut-off prevents flaring back or back firing of the burner.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail, it isto be understood that the description is to be interpreted asillustrative rather than limiting, as the invention may be variouslyembodied and is to be determined only as claimed.

I claim:

1. In a mechanism of the character described,

clock mechanism having a winding'shaft and a:

driving shaft, an arm carried by said driving shaft, winding meansrigidly connected with said winding shaft and provided with a projectingportion adapted to positively engage said arm on one side of said armwhen rotated in one direction and free to rotate away from said arm whenrotated in the other direction, a cam carried by said winding means andhaving a rapidly curving corner portion, a spring pressed cam followerengaging said cam and having a quick motion when said rapidly curvingcorner portion is engaged to rotate said cam, and a valve-operated bysaid cam follower.

2. In a mechanism of the character described, clock mechanism having awinding shaft and a driving shaft, an arm carried by said driving shaft,winding means carried by said winding shaft and provided with aprojecting portion adapted to engage said arm on one side of said arm,a. cam carried by said winding means, a valve, a plunger controlled bysaid cam for opening and closing said valve, said clock mechanism havingan escapement, and means actuated by said plunger for starting andstopping said escapement.

3. In a mechanism of the character described, clock mechanism having awinding shaft and a driving shaft, an arm carried by said driving shaft,winding means carried by said winding shaft and provided with aprojecting portion adapted to engage said arm on one side of saidv arm,a cam carried by said winding means, a valve, a plunger controlled bysaid cam for opening and closing said valve, said clock mechanism havingan escapement, and means comprising rocking means actuated by saidplunger for rocking into and out of engagement with said escapement,said rocking means starting said escapement when said rocking means isrocked out of engagement with said escapement, and stopping saidescapement when said rocking means is rocked into engagement with said

